Hello if you still remember this old blog, I certainly do! I haven’t been writing quite as intentionally of late, a lot of my writing has sort of tumbled out of my soul and fingers and I have only realised in hindsight that I have Done A Write.
Here’s one of those. I overdid it and went to about four gigs in the last 30 or so days— I say ‘about four’ because it’s entirely possible I went for other smaller shows played by friends around town, smaller, yet still triumphant gigs made sweeter by the fact that you have some idea of the work, hopes and fears poured into making some of those shows possible. But smaller, local shows aside, I had been to see the Belfast hiphop-punk trio KNEECAP, a revolutionary young band who keep it very real, singing and rapping about their lives in Belfast, the problems faced by the city, the feeling amongst the Belfast youth, and package all of that in a bilingual mix of English and Gaeilge, the Irish language.
Of course things get political with them, but admirably, they keep it very local, often addressing their local representatives and MPs in delightfully witty bars often rhyming an English line with an Irish one. I got to chat very briefly with one of their MCs, Móglaí Bap after the show, and the whole band also seems like extremely lovely lads.
My next show was seeing The Last Dinner Party, only a few weeks after. So many gigs! A real indulgence on my part. But they were majestic and opulent and put on a grand show: they aren’t very tall girls, but as the show went on, they just seemed to grow taller and command the whole crowd with confidence and a fire in their bellies! An incredible live act.
The band’s music connects the dots between Queen and Freddie Mercury, and Florence and the Machine, who they have supported in the past. They bring together rock music, decadence, evoke Edwardian and lavish opulence, even if just for one night, even if constructed themselves as a façade, as many of their talented fans did, creating their outfits from theatre props in the most DIY fashion, and I listened fascinated as they explained their choice of threads to me (it was a long wait at the doors, so I got talking to folks around me).
The band also draws on singer Abigail Morris’ experiences of growing up going to a Catholic girls school, and her thoughts and feelings on realising she was a lesbian in that setting. A lot of their music touches on themes of being a misfit, and that really connected with large parts of the crowd that night.
And their guitarist Emily Roberts is a totally cool person and an inspiration!
Then came a slew of local shows: everything from farewell shows for bands playing their final shows before graduating, some capping off a big year by selling out a crowd of nearly 800, to local acts honing their skills on the circuit. But then came the big one this week.
I saw Queens Of The Stone Age this week. They’d normally play a routine stadium show on tour in a bigger city like Toronto. The End Is Nero tour came to Toronto last year, but I didn’t feel it justified travelling and staying over, as much as I loved the riffing, the weirdness, the performanceship of a seasoned rockstar like Josh Homme! But then late last year, the Queens announced something very strange, very different, very special. They were going to embark on a tour across Canada, playing only second cities, places that no international touring band would ever play: cities like Edmonton, Calgary in Alberta, Saskatchewan; Winnipeg, Manitoba! The tour also happened to be stopping by my city, and that’s when I decided I had to go.
Small town shows tend to be quite special: the venues are smaller, just because they often are less populated than the big cities of millions, and sometimes crowds in LA, London or Toronto can get a bit complacent with what they have: a QOTSA show is a regular night out to a city that knows they’ll never be skipped on tour. Queens of The Stone Age are sort of competing with 50 other events around town, and maybe even four other notable headliners playing elsewhere the same night. Local icons! International bands! American rock icons! European indie legends; so much to choose from! I know when I went to see The Last Dinner Party, right next door, I ran into a friend from uni who had also travelled to Toronto to see a different band, Flipturn, the same night. We were in the same building.
But when shows go to small towns? Queens of the Stone Age were certainly the talk of the town! We were so excited for this gig, and I think that translates to much better crowd energy. The band were having fun for sure, Josh was in a great mood, chatted a lot with the crowd, had a moment of deep realisation that he conveyed to us by saying, “you might be thinking, who are these weirdos? I’m standing up here, and I often don’t know what I’m doing, but looking at you all, I’ve just had a realisation. Aren’t we all just weirdos? It’s great! I hope you all have a very weird night! I hope this is just the beginning. I hope you step out tonight after this and get hit by an Uber driver on mushrooms. And that’s just the beginning of your night. I hope it gets weirder.”
I can very seldom say that I have been told with the most love it’s possible for a heart to hold that someone hopes I get hit by a taxi, but it was just one of those nights!
It was a fun night! I’ve been to many smaller, indie/independent bands’ shows recently, even those who are on the rise are still well limited by their budgets. So it was refreshing to see the QOTSA live show and production, which was immersive, drew me in completely and really complemented the performance. Flashing white lights synced to the drum kicks! QOTSA and Josh seem quite drawn to reds and a bit of devilish imagery sometimes, on previous album artworks. I must say, red does suit Josh. When the lights flash red, every movement he made fell into place. It all seemed right and natural. He gets lifted out of the elements of reality and becomes a character. It all becomes a bit surreal!
(Look, I know I talked about how TLDP ‘got taller’ as the show went on, and how reds made Josh Homme seem otherworldly and surreal. You may think I might have been tripping on LSD throughout these gigs, but—maybe even embarrassingly? I don’t know—I did all these gigs stone-cold sober. Not high, not even drunk. I’m just really, really excited about music, and you must forgive me for that. We only get one life to enjoy it all in.)
Anyway, speaking of poisons of choice, as was the case with Foo Fighters, who I saw play a small arena of 4000 in Montreal last year (when a band that regularly plays to 50,000 people plays 4000, it sure becomes an ‘intimate’ show! Perspective is everything), you’ve got to be a certain level of rockstar to let a modern day venue allow you to smoke indoors—on stage! But I think Josh Homme and co. earn the right to smoke indoors. It’s also a bit of a fan moment to say, ‘I was close enough to the stage that I could smell Josh’s cigarette’, that’s a line that maybe belongs in the ’90s, doesn’t it? 😛
Anyway, I wish something that noxious didn’t look as cool as it does, but I did manage to get a really cool shot (and a short video clip) of Josh puffing a cigarette on stage, mid-guitar solo. And I think it’s one of the coolest gig pictures I’ve ever captured.
Anyway, so! What was this post all about anyway? It was about reflection. Reflecting on some great shows I got to see, in a move of indulgence that saw me attend three major concerts in a 30-day window. All of this was just setting the scene. I’m sorry my writing gets this long, there’s more to where that came from!
I felt I had something to learn from these very, very different gig experiences. You can learn something from people at every stage of their careers. Someone like the band The Struts, who opened for QOTSA, had more to prove to this audience than the headliner who everyone had come to see. And they put in the work. They pulled out all the stops to put on a tireless, energetic and very engaging show, encouraging singalongs of ‘woah!’ (ah, a classic UK indie rock band from the 2010s!), working the crowd, telling them, “our job tonight is to warm you up for QOTSA, and that’s what we’re gonna do!” Fair play to them, they did, and from word I heard around me, they’ve picked up a few new fans!
Someone like KNEECAP, a hip hop trio, obviously have a very different style of performing than QOTSA. A five piece band with instruments can fill up a stage. Can two MCs and a DJ with a laptop fill a dauntingly large stage? KNEECAP could! They were masters of engaging the crowd, hopping around on stage, drawing the crowd in with their energy, shouts, engaging lyrics and all. No mean feat all the hobbling around, given one member, Mo Chara had just broken his foot! He was on every corner of the stage with a giant plaster on his leg, and I commend that because that was definitely painful!
And so, some reflections on what I as a performer can learn. I wrote this on my Tumblr initially, and a friend who read it told me parts of it helped them get through a presentation, which I hadn’t thought of before, but isn’t it also just a performance put on for an audience? That’s now my favourite piece of feedback. But I want to put it up here on my WordPress blog too, just to stretch those writing fingers again. Let me know what you think!
Just reflecting on the vast and varied live show experiences I’ve been able to have in the last thirty or so days… I’ve moshed with Kneecap, danced with The Last Dinner Party, cheered my friends on at their band’s last show as they decide to split up and go their separate ways on graduating, and experienced the grandeur, rock n roll-in-the-stewardship-of-the-weirdos of Queens Of The Stone Age. All, you’ll agree, very different experiences.
First I’m even lucky to have them all— I’m lucky that I’m in the situation where I’m able to enjoy liking a broad palate of music like that. I was able to take a friend to every single one of these gigs (although I guess the bands themselves were my friends in the local band’s case…). That’s never been the case before, so I’m glad I have friends with whom I share these tastes.
I remember a while ago it wasn’t possible to have some of these interests at the same time. You couldn’t like hip hop and rock at the same time (goodbye 2015, I won’t miss you). I chose the rock side back then, being a guitarist. I’ve moved to the middle of the road now, and I’ve seen brilliant performers on both ends of the musical spectrum.
Both energetic, engaging shows led by musicians with a keen sense of showmanship. Both things that I as a performer want to learn from: both how to fill a stage/space and be comfortable in it. To draw attention to your strengths, and maybe endear people to your weaknesses, or put on such a show that the audience never realises something may be missing.
All so different, but showing me a different aspect of performing and receiving performance. Of lighting, visuals, the whole sensory experience. Knowing how to build a show that’s entertaining even without having eyes always trained on the frontperson: how do you build a show can be experienced in the seats, in the back row.
Josh Homme and Emily Roberts though, they make me want to start a band right now. QOTSA make me want to fill stadiums. Kneecap make me want to inspire. The Last Dinner Party make me want to connect. My friends make me want to fill that gap of not enough girls in rock bands.
I swear this happens every time I go to a gig, but here I am and I’ll say it again. I want it all. I want it all.
MattWilliamsonLive 